Oregon prepares nation's first per-mile road tax

[Rajoo]

Originally Posted by Tom Joad

I don't like it.

It's punishing people for driving smaller more fuel efficient vehicles.

That's ass backwards of what we need to be doing IMO.

“Fuel efficiency is getting better and better, which is great,” said Michelle Godfrey, an Oregon Department of Transportation spokeswoman. But “when your road maintenance is funded by fuel sales, that spells trouble.”

As an ex-part time resident of Oregon for the past 15 years or so (till 2014), what is the state supposed to do? Area wise it is a fairly large state with a total population of less than 4 million. The roads are very well maintained despite the fact that the state is fairly mountainous.

As to Marc's point of studded tires, each spring the road surface gets beat up by studded tires and needs to be resurfaced. I think it is a great idea for drivers to pay a use tax that is fair to everyone.

Also note that they do not have sales tax, state income tax is just about the same as CA, so their sources for tax revenue is fairly limited. In a lot of ways it is a very progressive state.